Transaction analysis: an interpretation of a statement by Jennifer Lawrence

 "During the first Trump administration, I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off,” Lawrence said. “But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing?"

Here’s a Transactional Analysis (TA) reading of those two statements. I’ll translate the language into TA concepts (ego states, scripts, games, time-structuring, drivers, rackets, life positions, signals) and point to likely dynamics behind the words.

1. Structural analysis (which ego state is speaking?)

• “I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.” This sounds like Adapted Child under a Hurry Up driver: urgent, scattered, pressured, with a loss of Adult prioritizing. The metaphor is classic Child vocabulary—vivid, global, body-based—and suggests high arousal with little direction. There may also be Parent contamination of Adult (catastrophic tone, “everything is urgent”), keeping the Adult from calmly assessing leverage and options. [1]
• “Celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever… So then what am I doing?” The absolute “whatsoever” and “we’ve learned” carry a Critical Parent flavor (sweeping generalization, moral-of-the-story tone), followed by a Child doubt (“What am I doing?”). This looks like a flip from Parent-certainty to Child-deflation, with the Adult squeezed in-between. [4]

2. Positions, pronouns, and life positions

• Pronoun shift: “I felt…” (personal) to “we’ve learned…” (group/authority) to “what am I doing?” (personal existential doubt). That arc can mark a move from personal experience (Child) to citing a group norm (Parent/peer group) back to personal worth (Child). Life-position oscillation is likely: from I’m Not OK (I’m chaotic) → They/World Not OK (nothing we do matters) → back to I’m Not OK (so why am I here?). The result can sit in a (-,-) stance (I’m Not OK–You/They/World Not OK) or toggle between (-,+) and (-,-). [2]

3. Drivers, injunctions, and counterscript

• Driver: Hurry Up (move fast, do more, don’t pause), perhaps with Try Hard (exert effort rather than choose leverage) and Please Others (activism keyed to others’ approval). These are classic counterscript “doings” that mask deeper injunctions like Don’t Be Important, Don’t Succeed, or Don’t Think (let urgency trump reflection). When results disappoint, the underlying injunctions win and the internal verdict becomes “My effort doesn’t count.” [3]
• The phrase “whatsoever” signals all-or-nothing Parent language; that absolutism often protects a Child who is bracing for pain (If it’s 0% effective, I don’t have to risk hope). [6]

4. Time-structuring and strokes

• Activism can be a way to structure time (activity, pastimes, or games) and get strokes (recognition). In a high-pressure cycle, people may chase quantity over quality of strokes, leading to after-burn (lingering emotional agitation) and reach-back (today’s intensity taps old imprinting about urgency and danger). The letdown (“So then what am I doing?”) suggests a stroke-deprivation crash and a racket feeling (habitual, scripted feeling like futility or helplessness). [5]

5. Game analysis and the Drama Triangle

• Possible game: Rescuer stance (I will save democracy/the public) that switches to Victim (Nothing I do matters). The formula could look like: Con (I must act urgently; I can fix it) + Gimmick (over-responsibility) + Response (pour in time/visibility) + Switch (results don’t match fantasy) + Cross-up (shame, futility) + Payoff (despair/withdrawal/angry protest). The public frame (“celebrities don’t make a difference”) can function as a culturally backed Parent justification for the Victim payoff. [1]
• If gallows humor is used around this topic, a “gallows transaction” sometimes masks unprocessed grief or fear while delivering strokes through ironic resignation. [4]

6. Script, script apparatus, and episcript

• Script theme: a Loser or Nonwinner script might read “I must try hard and rush, but in the end it won’t matter.” A counterscript sweatshirt could be “I’m tirelessly active” (front) / “so I won’t have to feel powerless” (back). The payoff is familiar, even if painful (racket relief of “See? It’s pointless”). [2]
• Episcript and cultural Parent: “Celebrities should make a difference” vs “Celebrities should stay in their lane.” Either directive can become a parental program. The quoted line aligns with a prohibitive pressure (“You don’t get to influence outcomes”) that can tighten a preexisting injunction like Don’t Be Important. [3]

7. Script signals and language

• Signals likely include urgency in voice rate, restless movement, scanning attention (Hurry Up stance). Linguistic tells include global metaphors (“chicken with my head cut off”), absolutes (“whatsoever”), and rhetorical self-questioning (“What am I doing?”). The first signals Child arousal; the second signals Parent overgeneralization; the third signals Child confusion seeking Adult containment. [6]

8. Reframing toward Adult

• Adult questions counter both Parent absolutism and Child helplessness: What outcomes am I actually measuring? Where do I have leverage? What is the smallest effective action? What evidence contradicts “whatsoever”? Who exactly am I trying to influence, and by which channel? These restore clock-time planning, reduce after-burn, and convert Try Hard/Hurry Up into Choose Wisely/Do Enough. Permissions (You may think. You may be effective in bounded ways. You may rest.) loosen injunctions and stabilize the Adult. [5]

Sources

1 Genogram with Transactional Analysis in Coaching: A Road Map for Counseling & Coaching - An intuitive visual approach to unlock your clients' self-awareness to achieve personal & professional growth Paperback – December 16, 2023 by Claudia Musicco (Author

2 Transactional Analysis Counseling in Action (Counseling in Action series) Fourth Edition by Ian Stewart (Author)

3 Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis. Paperback – August 27, 1996 by Eric Berne (Author)

4 Beyond Games and Scripts Hardcover – January 1, 1976 by Eric Berne (Author)

5 Scripts People Live: Transactional Analysis of Life Scripts Paperback – January 26, 1994 by Claude Steiner (Author)

6 The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do, Revised and Updated Paperback – February 24, 2009 by Judith Rich Harris (Author)